1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interactive pointing device and a pointing method, and more particularly to an interactive pointing device capable of switching capture ranges and a method for switching capture ranges.
2. Related Art
In recent years, with the rapid development of technologies, interactive multimedia devices become more and more popular. The interactive multimedia devices allow users to interact with sounds and images, so as to experience entertainment.
A control device is required to be used in combination with the interactive multimedia device. In addition to control devices for control through buttons, more advanced control devices are further equipped with technologies of pointing and motion sensing. Pointing is used to control a cursor on a screen as a mouse, and motion sensing is used to detect movement and rotation in three-dimensional space.
The pointing technology needs to use an image sensing element to detect a direction pointed by the control device. However, common image sensing elements have a fixed capture range, and when a target sensed by the image sensing element leaves the capture range, the image sensing element cannot successfully point to the target. That is to say, the user must adapt to the limited capture range of the image sensing element, so as to operate the interactive device. If the capture range is too small, the convenience in use is greatly limited.
On the other hand, if the capture range is expanded, the power consumption of the image sensing element is increased. Moreover, the power consumption of the image sensing element is proportional to the square of the capture range. That is to say, if the capture range is doubled, the power consumption will be quadrupled. Furthermore, as the control elements are generally handheld, the control elements require a battery as a power source. The higher the power consumption is, the shorter the service life of the battery will be.
Therefore, a conflict between the size of the capture range and power consumption is encountered in designing the control device.